Offensive funk leaves Guardians pondering Deadline strategy

CLEVELAND -- No runs, just four hits and another loss to an AL Central team. So, what does this all mean?

The Guardians’ need for starting pitching is a constant. But the longer July goes on, the more we see that the need for a bat might be just as important. It was reflected again in Thursday’s 3-0 loss to the Tigers at Progressive Field, as Cleveland split the four-game series with its division foe.

Now, Cleveland has five days to determine whether to make some additions by Tuesday's 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline.

“We have an idea of what we'd like to accomplish going in,” Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said, “but how we're able to execute, that's hard to predict.”

This isn’t the start to the second half of the season that Cleveland wanted, dropping four of its first seven games. Entering Thursday, the Guardians ranked 26th in MLB in runs scored since the All-Star break, and a mere two runs on Wednesday and a shutout in the series finale against the Tigers certainly won’t cause them to climb the leaderboard.

These types of stretches happen in a 162-game season. A bad week is one thing. But the fact that Cleveland has struggled offensively all month is a bigger story. Entering the day, the team ranked 24th in runs scored, and the longer the offense struggles to push runs across the plate, the more pressure is put on the rotation.

That’s not the part of this roster that’s been able to handle a ton of responsibility this year. We know Tanner Bibee is the ace of this staff. Ben Lively has been a pleasant surprise for the Guardians, usually reliable to eat up at least five innings each time he’s handed the ball. But Cleveland needs Gavin Williams to step up and be a source of consistency as well.

He was able to do that, for the most part, on Thursday. After throwing more than 20 pitches in the first inning and allowing a three-run homer to Javier Báez in the second, he settled in, relied on his slider and got through six innings with no further damage. But when Cleveland's offense is held to just four hits in nine innings, the pitching staff needs to be perfect to give the bats a chance to win. This rotation isn’t in a position to handle those types of limitations.

Carlos Carrasco is a question mark on his start days. The fifth spot in the rotation has been a revolving door, but it is currently held by Xzavion Curry while Logan Allen and Triston McKenzie work out their kinks at Triple-A Columbus. And until Matthew Boyd is cleared for big league action in a few weeks, this team doesn’t have many other options. That’s why getting a starter before Tuesday would be helpful … as long it’s attainable.

“The supply and demand [in the pitching market], there's definitely an imbalance there,” Antonetti said. “I think there are 18 or 19 teams that are actively looking to add to their teams and improve them. The vast majority of those are looking for pitching and specifically starting pitching, so it creates a unique market.”

If the Guardians can’t get a pitcher, maybe they can get a bat. And if they can’t get a bat, they will have to figure out internal options to try to get this offense back on track. Maybe one of those could be Kyle Manzardo, who didn’t have the level of success he hoped to in his 30 big league games.

“I think what we have to figure out is,” Antonetti said, “is there an opportunity for [Manzardo] to come up here and contribute in the Major League level based upon the composition of players we have and who that might displace. But Kyle continues to do his part to prepare for that opportunity.”

There’s a lot to figure out in the next five days, but the Guardians are preparing for any outcome.

“No matter what happens at the Trade Deadline,” Antonetti said, “it's important to remember that the group of guys in that clubhouse are the ones that have played and put us in the position to win the amount of games that we have. And our success in the second half is going to continue to be determined by that group of guys.”